


Knight in navy blue.

by TayBartlett9000



Category: British Royalty RPF, Historical RPF, The Crown (TV)
Genre: 1939, Britain, F/M, Friendship, Historical, History, Love, Love at First Sight, Pre-World War 2, Princess - Freeform, Royalty, prince - Freeform, royal navy - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:48:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26533876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TayBartlett9000/pseuds/TayBartlett9000
Summary: Princess Elizabeth finds love in 1939 upon catching sight of Prince Philip, a handsome navy cadet. She believes that she has  found her fairy  tale knight.
Relationships: Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom/Philip Duke of Edinburgh
Comments: 2
Kudos: 38





	Knight in navy blue.

Britannia Royal naval college, Dartmouth. 1939.

She hadn’t thought that she would ever find her knight in shining armour. Those heros were only present in fairy tales, were they not? She and Margaret had played the game of fairy tale princesses but Elizabeth was a practical girl. Those had merely been games. And yet, upon first catching a glimpse of him for only the second time in her thirteen years, Elizabeth knew that he was the one. It was odd, she thought, that a thirteen year old would experience the thing they called ‘love at first sight,’ but experience it she had. He was the one. She knew it.

“Now, it is important that you behave yourselves today,” mother told them warmly as they arrived at the royal naval college, addressing her words in Margaret’s direction, “it is important that we show these men the respect they are due.”

She had no need to warn Elizabeth about good behaviour. Elizabeth knew how one had to behave when one was the heir apparent. Margaret was a concern though. Elizabeth shot her younger sister a warning look as her father lead them on, knowing that Margaret was apt to behaving badly when she grew bored. She would have to keep an eye on her. Mother and father would be too busy inspecting the young cadets at work to worry too much about them. 

Elizabeth listened with only half an ear to the conversation between her parents and some of the older men of the college. She was looking around her, curious. There was very little for a young girl to take interest in, until Philip arrived in their midst.

He was tall, fair haired and looked as if his face had been carved by the angels themselves. It was a face Elizabeth had seen once before, at a wedding back in 1934. But she had merely been eight years of age then. She had spent next to no time with him and hadn’t considered him to be particularly handsome. Now that she was looking into his face again, she was becoming aware of a blush creeping across her cheeks and heating her brow. He was a handsome man, a devilishly handsome man.

Philip turned to her, smiled and then addressed her directly. “Good morning, your royal highness,” he told Elizabeth politely, “I hope that you won’t mind me accompanying you this morning while the king and queen are busy.”

Elizabeth felt her heart soaring like a song bird who had been released from its cage. This handsome eighteen year old had offered to entertain them for the morning. He had probably been assigned that role, but she tried not to think about that. She wanted to believe that it was his wish to spend the morning playing with them. She knew that it was her wish to spend the morning with him. Hoping that she didn’t sound too eager, Elizabeth replied, “we would like that very much. Thank yu.”

Margaret followed Elizabeth and the handsome navy cadet through the coridors of the college. Her little sister chattered on endlessly as Philip lead them on, her voice a shrill pipe that seemed to echo through the college. Elizabeth walked beside Philip, saying very little and wishing that Margaret would seace in her incessant chattering so that she could better hear the voice of the handsome man who walked beside her. He had a voice as lovely as his handsome face. Elizabeth hung onto his every word, the few words that he was permitted to speak when Margaret paused to take a breath.

Elizabeth found herself regretting the shyness that she had inherited from her father. Margaret had no fear. She could hold a person’s attention for as long as she wanted. Elizabeth wished that she had the guts to commence a conversation with this handsome young man who held all of her attention. Margaret was as bubbly as Elizabeth was quiet, overflowing with confidence while her older sister remained silent. As they sqat on the floor, Philip joining the girls in a joyous game with a train set, Elizabeth found herself becoming increasingly determined to say something. But what could she talk about? She pondered the topics that were the most appropriate and decided upon the subject of war. Grim though it was, Philip would at least have something to say about it. Everyone was talking about war these days. Her father was concerned about it. Elizabeth had overheard many a conversation with his mother and she knew that war was a grave concern for many.

Opening her mouth and resisting the urge to continue on in silence, Elizabeth forced herself to speak. “Do you think we will go to war, Philip?”

She could feel Margaret’s eye on her and she felt herself blushing once again. She hoped dearly that she had not made herself look like an uninteresting bore. She knew that compared with Margaret, she often did.

But Philip smiled at her, an act that caused Elizabeth’s heart to skip a few beats. “I think that war is a distinct possibility, your royal highness. We are preparing for it in any case. If Hitler does force us to go to war then I am sure that we will be ready for it.”

Elizabeth nodded, unsure of what else she could say. She wished that Philip didn’t have to call her ‘your royal highness.’ She would have given anything to have the handsome man to call her Elizabeth as her family did. She lapsed into silence once again, allowing Margaret to take over.

Time passed and the young princesses and Philip continued their play. Presently, Philip looked up. He appeared to be growing restless. Elizabeth wondered if he was growing bored. “Let’s go and jump the tennis nets,” he told the girls, standing up and preparing to leave the room.

Elizabeth was quick to follow Philip’s lead. She rose to her feet and accompanied the navy cadet from the college building with Margaret walking behind her. She was glad to be stepping into the outside world. She was always more at peace out of doors than she was when cooped up inside and as they emerged into the sunny daylight and hurried in the direction of the tennis court, she found herself once again hanging onto every word Philip spoke.

It was a vast tennis court. Elizabeth paused for a moment, watching as Philip continued in his entertaining of her little sister. He began to jump over the tennis nets, He seemed to have forgotten her for the moment, jumping the nets and appearing to show off a little for his two young charges. But Elizabeth was still watching him intently. His athletic skills were impressive. She could no longer take her eyes off him, so fascinated was she by every move he made. He was so strong, she thought, strong and fit. It was as if Margaret was no longer among them. Elizabeth could no longer hear her giggling and screaming. She had eyes and ears only for Philip, content to stand and watch, happy to stand on the sidelines for the moment. He was easily the most interesting thing the naval college had to offer. It was a warmish day, the sun shining down upon everything it touched. The sky was a deep blue and birds of many kinds were singing joyously as they soared high above them. It was a beautiful day and it seemed that love was in the air, from Elizabeth’s side at least. Philip though seemed to have noticed nothing. She sighed a little, wishing that he had noticed her. She was unable to pay attention to anyone but him and yet it seemed as if to Philip, she was nothing more than the cousin whom he had been told to entertain for the morning.

But she couldn’t prevent herself from imagining something very different. If Philip had noticed her, then perhaps they would have spent the morning talking about things of greater interest. If Philip had noticed her then maybe they would have been able to enjoy a conversation without the constant interruptions from her sister. If she wasn’t the heir to the throne, then maybe handsome Prince Philip would have been able to behave in a friendlier manner towards her. She sighed again, resigning herself to the fact that Philip took very little interest in her.

She sat in silence as they were driven home, the image of that fair haired navy cadet the only thing she could see. As the driver put more and more distance between their car and the naval college, Elizabeth felt the miles between them. She wondered when next she would see Philip. She often saw him at various royal functions, often accompanied by his uncle Lord Mountbatten and his sister, Princess Marina. He was as much of a slave to the royal gathering as she herself was. But what would happen if war broke out? Though Philip had seemed to have done his best to reassure her, Elizabeth knew how precarious their position had become. War was likely and if Britain did go to war against Hitler and the Nazis, what would become of Philip? She imagined the navy cadet on a frigate somewhere, defending their land from the Germans. In her mind’s eye, Philip looked as handsome riding the waves in a war frigate as he had done on the tennis court at Dartmouth naval college. Elizabeth knew that Philip would take up the task of DEFENDING Britain from the Nazis. He had as much love and loyalty for his country as she did, inspight of the fact that he was the prince of Greece and Denmarck and she herself was descended from German ancestors. He would join the fight without question, she knew it. If war broke out, Elizabeth knew that it would be a long time before she saw him again. Her heart ached with sudden longing as she thought of her cousin. She would have to write to him. That would be appropriate, she thought. Members of the royal family often wrote to each other. Yes. She would write to him. She wanted to get to know him better. Maybe if she continued a letter based corispondence with Philip, he would one day recognise the friendship she wished to develop with him. Maybe if the two wrote to each other, they would be able to create something deeper than the connection they already had. She did hope so. She wanted more than anything to get to know him, to make him notice her. She was sure that in time, she would be able to do this. She was thirteen years old after all. The time had come, thought Elizabeth, for her to step into the world of romance. She had read about romance. She thought that it was time for her to try and find her own. Philip certainly fit the description of the knight in shining armour. Maybe Philip would one day be her knight. Every princess needed one after all, did they not. She smiled at the thought of it. Hers was not the usual knight in shining armour though. Hers was the knight in navy blue. 

**Author's Note:**

> I have made the dialogue up of course and though I can't find out the day they met in 1939, the rest of it should be accurate enough. I know that the cadets didn't wear navy blue but the title sounded good.


End file.
